Edens VP Ames, Mike Dobbins to address NCA on development projects

The Northwest Community Alliance (NCA) meeting March 16 will feature speakers focusing on two key areas of the city of Atlanta that hold hope for bridging the divide between rich and poor by developing working-class, middle-class neighborhoods in west and northwest Atlanta.

Edens Vice President Southeast Herbert Ames addresses the large crowd that turned out for the groundbreaking at the Moores Mill Shopping Center project March 2.

The featured speakers will be Herbert Ames, vice president Southeast for South Carolina-based Edens Company, developer of the Moores Mills Shopping Center project, and Michael Dobbins, GA Tech professor and former Atlanta commissioner of the Department of Planning.

The meeting will take place at the Northside Church of God, 1736 Harper Street at 7 p.m.

“It’s great that Atlanta is able to produce an Atlantic Station and see explosive growth in West Midtown and the high-end Buckhead Atlanta,” said NCA chairman Michael Koblentz. “But the NCA has been focused on projects that we believe can revitalize areas that have been neglected and need our focus.”

There has been a huge grassroots, neighborhood movement for more than 10 years to get the mixed-use redevelopment of the abandoned Moores Mill Shopping Center underway, which will include a Publix supermarket. A groundbreaking for the new $95 million project took place on March 2.

“The NCA strongly backs this project, which has had massive support from Atlanta Councilwoman Felicia Moore, neighborhood activists, former NCA board member Karyn Hudson and way too many others to name,” Koblentz said.

“Talk about persistence, talk about obstacles, talk about success,” added Koblentz. “What we truly believe is that this is a transformative project that will not only change the area, but end the food desert that has existed there and in the adjacent Hollowell area for years.”

The NCA is a coalition of neighborhoods and developers. “So, it gives us immense pleasure to be able to highlight a developer who put in the same amount of passion as many of the neighbors in

Michael Dobbins

wanting this project to be built,” stated Koblentz. “Herbert Ames has put his heart and soul into this development, and the joint collaboration has been remarkable.” Ames has agreed to take questions after his remarks.

Georgia Tech’s Planning Studio last semester focused on how to plan and develop the area in and around Technology Enterprise Park (TEP), a joint project of GA Tech, and The University Financing Foundation (TUFF). Northside Drive divides the research campus from the English Avenue neighborhood to the west.

“If continued development on Tech’s west flank is done well, then Tech can play a pivotal role as an anchor institution in mending the physical, social and wealth divide that has plagued the westside neighborhoods for decades,” Koblentz explained.

Mike Dobbins and one of his Planning Studio participants will give a brief presentation and take questions.

“The NCA sees Dobbins’ studio work, along with the WCA, the Vine City and English Avenue Association work, the community benefits projects and so many other organizations as a reason why we can’t be anything other than optimistic that real transformation will take place,” Koblentz stated.